Paul van Gulick (19/04/1956), a Dutch composer and conductor, born in Eindhoven. He grew up in the awareness that the arts form an essential part of human nature. To him, music is an essential element in daily life and a means of communication par excellence to bridge different cultures.
After his education at the Tilburg Music Academy, he took to performing different styles of music. Today, he is an established conductor, both in the Netherlands and abroad. He considers it a great honour to have been invited in several occasions to be guest conductor to the Krasnoyarsk Symphony Orchestra and the chamber choir ‘Academia’. He is also a composer and his works are regularly performed on international stages.

A Requiem based on plane chant motives and which makes use of a traditional lullaby from Gran Canaria. Hence the added ‘Canario’ in its title.
The Requiem ‘Canario’ was written after completion of ‘Paradisal Journeys’ and it forms a creative unity with that composition. In this Requiem, Western European achievements meet Russian cultural heritage. Because of the Roman Catholic background of my family, I was raised with Plain Chant as the most important churchmusic. Also during my education at the Music Academy, much attention was paid to this kind of churchmusic, and it felt only natural to use Plain Chant motives in my Requiem. Although it wasn’t primarily written for liturgical use, it can well be used in a liturgical context.
In Part 3 (Going) I used a poem by Philip Larkin (with permission of Marvell Press, England/Australia) in an orchestral song. This poem wonderfully expresses the ambivalent feeling of astonishment and dismay I have about death. Also inspired by this poem, Svetlana Voytkevich created a Russian pendant.
In Part 5 (Pie Jesu) I used a traditional lullaby from the Canary Islands. When I first heard this song through a friend of mine, Sofia Rodriguez, I was struck by its simplicity and emotional directness…
It fitted perfectly within my new ideas about what music should sound like. I made a note of the song and used it as basis for the passacaglia of the Pie Jesu. Hence the name, Requiem ‘Canario’.